


Open Up!

by ABirdWhoSquawks



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, wholesome gay content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 18:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11446701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABirdWhoSquawks/pseuds/ABirdWhoSquawks
Summary: After a journey into Sucy's mind, Akko is seriously concerned about what she saw. She's determined to talk to her about her unhealthy tendencies, but who in this world has more walls than Sucy Manbavaran? (And at that, who has worse communication skills than Atsuko Kagari?)[Takes place after episode 8]





	Open Up!

The pale light of the moon hanging in the sky over Luna Nova cast a soft glow into a dormitory room where three young witches, Akko, Sucy, and Lotte, were preparing for bed.

Despite the calm, quiet atmosphere, Akko's mind was racing as she lay in her bed. Just the day before, she had embarked on a perilous journey into Sucy's mind, and despite her mission's success, she couldn't stop thinking about what she saw of the inner workings of her friend's mental state. Namely, the expedient and brutal culling of fragments of Sucy's personality disturbed Akko. Doing something that violent to yourself couldn't be healthy, Akko was sure of it.

She rolled over to glance across the room, checking to make sure that Sucy hadn't yet gone to sleep. “Hey, Sucy?”

Sucy, still sitting up, didn't look up from her book as she replied. “Hm?”

“You know how when I was in your brain I found a corrupt criminal justice system that sentenced a bunch of little versions of you to death without due process or anything?”

Sucy furrowed her brow. “Yeah?” She replied dryly.

“Don't you think that's kinda really messed up?”

“What's messed up is invading and screwing around with the inner sanctum of someone's mind without their knowledge or permission.” Sucy didn't raise her voice, but her words still had a bitterness to them.

“Hey, I did that to save you!” Akko shot back. “You should be grateful!”

“I'd be grateful if you'd mind your own business.”

Lotte piped up from the top bunk. “Guys, please stop...”

Akko continued on regardless. “Well maybe I would have if you hadn't made that stupid potion! Maybe I wouldn't have gotten involved if your brain was a normal place instead of a murder-filled tyrannical dystopia!”

“Akko, please!”

Akko stopped. Lotte practically never raised her voice, so when she did, it was sure to get her attention.

“I don't want to hear my friends fight like this.” Lotte sighed. “Let's just try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Fine.” Akko said as she begrudgingly lay back down.

\- - -

Whether Sucy was being especially distant the next day or whether it was just a part of her naturally cold disposition, Akko couldn't tell. Whatever the case, their argument from last night still weighed on Akko's mind, and her happy-go-lucky attitude was hidden beneath a layer of frustration.

“Akko? You stopped stirring.” Lotte whispered in between incantations. “Are you okay?”

“Oh! Right.” Akko again started mixing together the contents of the group's cauldron. Sucy tended to carry the team during group projects in potions class as she prepared, measured, and added all manners of odd ingredients, so it was easy for Akko to get distracted with such a simple task as stirring.

“You should actually be stirring it counter-clockwise now.” Sucy corrected her.

“Well, what if I _like_ stirring it this way?” Akko huffed.

“You won't like it when it blows up in your face.”

The rest of the period passed quietly until the class was dismissed. As Lotte walked out of the classroom, she noticed Sucy, still staring at the cauldron.

“Sucy, are you coming?” She asked.

“Not yet,” Sucy replied with an unsettling chuckle, “I have a couple more _experiments_ I'd like to try.”

Lotte nodded and went to catch up with her other roommate.

“Akko, what's wrong?” she said. “You were pretty rude to Sucy back there.”

“Ugh, I'm just so frustrated!” Akko replied. “She just has to be so guarded and aloof about everything! Does that girl _ever_ open up?”

“She does, actually.”

“What!?” Akko stopped in her tracks.

“Akko, I know you like to wear your heart on your sleeve,” Lotte explained. “And that's wonderful, but not everybody works the same way. Sucy has a lot of walls, but she can be willing to let them down. It just takes patience, trust, and understanding.”

“But doesn't she trust me?” Akko said. “I'm her friend!”

“When you went into her mind you saw a lot of parts of her that were really personal.” Lotte said. “She probably feels like her privacy was violated.”

“But I had to do that!” Akko countered. “Are you saying we should've just let her stay asleep forever and turn the world into a giant mushroom?”

Lotte shook her head. “I'm not saying you did the wrong thing. I'm just saying you should try to look at it from her perspective. Even if what happened was completely necessary, she has a right to be upset and guarded about it.”

Akko sighed. “I'm just really worried about her, is all. Like, in what world is killing parts of yourself for no reason a healthy thing? You should've seen what she was doing to herself. I need to get her to talk about it.”

Lotte thought for a moment before she responded. "If you wanna talk to her about it, you're gonna need to try to see things from her point of view. Apologize if you upset her. And you should probably talk to her one-on-one so that she doesn't feel like she has to be defensive to me as well."

Akko nodded.

\- - -

Later that afternoon, Akko sat alone in her room, pretending to read a book. At her request, Lotte had agreed to spend some time in the library. Now all Akko had to do was wait.

Sure enough, the door opened to reveal Sucy, prompting Akko to sit up in bed.

"Hey, Sucy!" she said. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"If it's about me, I don't wanna hear it." Sucy replied, setting her books down.

"Actually, I wanted to apologize."

This got Sucy's attention.

"Like, I'm sorry about trespassing and interfering in your private head-space and everything," Akko began, "even though I didn't really have a choice because otherwise you would have slept forever and turned everything into mushrooms..."

"That's not an apology." Sucy said flatly.

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Akko said."Besides, it's not like I did anything wrong when I was in there."

"You tried to kiss me on the lips while I was unconscious." Sucy retorted.

"I had to wake you up somehow!"

"And mouth-to-mouth was your only idea? Seriously?"

Akko was fuming. "Even if I _had_ kissed you, it's not like it would have meant anything anyway!"

For a few seconds, her words seemed to reverberate around the room. Outside their window, a few roosting birds took off into the sunny sky, leaving the two girls in silence.

"...wouldn't have meant a thing, huh?"

Sucy didn't look at Akko as she got up for the door. "Don't follow me."

"Hey, wait!" Akko called out as she got up to chase after her friend, who was now sprinting through the corridors of Luna Nova. "How the heck do you move so fast?" She panted.

Despite bumping into a few irritated classmates as she ran down stairs and through corridors, Akko knew she was gaining on Sucy. After all, she wasn't known for her boundless energy and determination for nothing. She swore that she could almost grab hold of Sucy's arm when she found herself facedown on the floor, surrounded by purple spores, and coughing her lungs out. As the cloud of spores cleared, she could just make out the shape of Sucy as she ran outside.

Akko groaned in frustration. Why did this have to be so difficult? She truly was concerned about her friend; all she wanted to do was help, and yet every time she tried she somehow managed to mess it up and get pushed away. It was like she couldn't do anything right.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Yo, Akko!"

"Amanda?" Akko sat up.

"Is Sucy alright?" Amanda asked as she jogged up to her friend. "I just saw her running like mad back there. Nearly knocked me over."

"Wait, you saw her?" Akko perked up. "Where did she go?"

"Hm, I dunno. The lake's in that direction, maybe she went there?" Amanda suggested.

"Great, thanks!"

"Hold on a second." Amanda blocked Akko before she could run off. "For real, is she okay? She looked really upset, like she was about to cry almost."

Akko blinked. Annoyed, she was used to. Irritated, she could expect. But on the verge of tears? In all her time at Luna Nova, Akko had never seen Sucy that emotional. She couldn't imagine what she could have done to hurt her so bad, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let it get worse.

"Should I come with you?" Amanda asked. "She's my friend, too."

"No," Akko said, "This is my fault. I'm gonna be the one to fix it."

\- - -

It was a peaceful day out on the lake. Waves danced lazily across the surface of the water, glimmering with the same bright sunlight that cast shade underneath the maple tree. It was in this shade where Sucy Manbavaran sat, near the edge of the water, her back to the sturdy trunk, hugging her knees to her chest.

She didn't need to look up to know who was approaching her, leaves crunching underfoot. "I knew you'd follow me." she said. "You're so irritatingly predictable."

Akko hesitated as she approached. "Can I sit?" When Sucy made no attempt to stop her, she sat down on the grass beside her.

It took Akko some time to find the words. "...I screwed up."

"Hm?" Sucy looked at her.

"I'm really sorry. I'm sorry for invading your privacy and I'm sorry for not taking the time to understand how that upset you and I'm sorry for getting so defensive and insensitive and... and I'm sorry. I'm gonna try to do better."

"Akko," Sucy said, "I get that you were just trying to do the right thing injecting yourself into my mind. You don't need to apologize for that."

"But the other stuff?"

Sucy gave a small smirk. "Apology accepted."

Akko paused for a moment, looking down at the grass. "Alright, I get it if you don't wanna talk about it, and we totally don't have to if you don't wanna..." She looked back at Sucy. were her eyes red? Not her irises, obviously, those were always red. "...But I kinda wanna talk about what was going on in there. I care about you a lot, and what I saw makes me worried. But, again, if you want me to drop it I'll drop it."

"...Akko," Sucy began, "Are there parts of yourself that you don't like?"

She cocked her head to the side. "I mean, I guess?" She replied. "I wish I was better at magic, I wish I wasn't so impatient, and I wish I wasn't allergic to peanuts?"

"Basically, I uh," Sucy said, "I have a lot of things like that."

"Wait, _what?_ How!?" Akko's surprise startled Sucy. "But you're amazing! You're smart and dependable and driven, not to mention practically a poisons and potions prodigy!" She paused. "I mean, granted, you do have that habit of testing out weird things on me, but still!"

"Akko, why does it matter to you so much?"

"Because _you_ matter to me, you dummy!" Akko took a deep breath. "You're so important to me. For as long as we've been here, you've always had my back, no matter what ridiculous mess I'd gotten myself into. I don't know what I'd do without you." Something clicked in her head—another reason why it was so important to her, why she cared so much about the captivating girl sitting beside her. "Sucy, I like you so much I have no clue how you couldn't like yourself."

Sucy shrugged sardonically. "Yeah, well, here we are."

"Alright, look," Akko said, "I know this is probably super difficult, but I want you to try to forgive yourself a little." She laid a hand on Sucy's shoulder. "Every once in a while, try to be a little nicer to yourself. I promise you deserve it."

Sucy smiled. "If it'll get you off of my back, I'll think about it."

Akko giggled. The sun had descended low enough to touch the trees across the lake, filling the sky with a warm glow.

After a while, Akko spoke up again. "Sucy, I'm curious. That time on the bridge, when we first met... Was that really your favorite memory?"

Sucy froze.

"Sorry, sorry," Akko backpedaled, "I didn't mean to pry. Forget it."

"No, it's fine." Sucy said. "Akko, you're important to me too. Before I met you, I, um." She hesitated. "I didn't really have many friends. But even after the tricks I played on you, even after everything in Arcturus that day, you were still determined to be my friend." She smiled. "I guess we both have each others' backs."

Wiping a tear from her eye, Akko pulled Sucy into a tight hug. "We totally do."

Sucy usually had a tendency to go stiff when hugged, but Akko noticed her almost relax into this one. Feeling her cheeks flush, she slowly pulled away from the hug. Despite the way the conversation was going, Akko could feel a great tension in the air. She wondered if Sucy could feel it too.

"One more thing I was curious about," Akko began hesitantly. "If we had kissed—would it _not_ have meant nothing?"

"Akko, all kisses mean something."

"And what would that one have meant?" She asked.

"You tell me."

Akko swore she could cut the tension in the air with a knife. She desperately hoped she wasn't sweating as much as she thought she was. One part of her just wanted to run away. But another part of her whispered _fortune favors the bold_ in her ear.

"I-I mean," Akko stammered, "As far as first kisses go, I suppose you wouldn't be the worst."

Sucy rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you blockhead."

Determination coursed through Akko's veins. If Sucy wasn't quite picking up what she was throwing down, she would just have to be a bit more direct.

"Like, I'd still totally be down for that first kiss if a certain someone else was."

"W-what are you saying?"

Akko hadn't realized that Sucy's ashen face could turn that shade of red. Emboldened and terrified all at once, she decided to let everything out.

"Sucy, I have a huge crush on you!"

Her breath holding for Sucy's answer, Akko tried to ascertain what Sucy was thinking, but found her face unreadable.

"Akko..." Sucy finally began. Akko could feel her pulse quickening as she realized just how close their faces were.

"Akko, just kiss me already."

The kiss was far from graceful, but as their lips fell into place, a sense of overwhelming warmth fell over Akko. She wrapped her arms around Sucy, pulling her in closer than she had ever felt before.

When they finally pulled apart, Akko couldn't tell if her heart had stopped or if it was beating too fast for her to feel. Regardless, all she could do was wordlessly stare back at Sucy, mouth slightly agape, eyes full of stars.

"Well, as far as memories go," Sucy said, "That one wasn't too bad."

\- - -

Lotte Yanson closed her eyes. She had studied in the library for a while, and when she had finally returned to her room, to her surprise, she had found the place empty. By now, it was dark, and she hoped that everything had gone alright between them. As she was pondering what could have happened and where they could possibly be, the door opened.

"Oh shoot, I guess it's bedtime already." Lotte heard a voice whisper.

"Guess so." whispered another.

"You think Lotte's asleep?"

"Seems like it."

"Alright. Well, goodnight then?"

"Goodnight."

And then she heard a kiss.

A quick one. Unmistakably. Between her roommates.

She tried as hard as she could not to squeal from excitement.

 


End file.
